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OVERVIEW
Research has shown that there are essentially four significant outcomes for which managers have responsibility:
- Customer Satisfaction
- Employee Satisfaction
- Quality
- Fiscal Accountability
Each of these factors is crucial to the success of both managers and the organization. Without any one of these, there will be a gaping hole in either work process or work output. All four factors can be, and should be measured; and managers should be held accountable for meeting identified standards within each category.
Customer Satisfaction
Have you ever heard the following old adage? “Life would be wonderful, if we just didn’t have these customers to deal with.” Unfortunately, without these customers, there would be no business. (And we should add that customers are both internal and external to the organization.) In today’s marketplace, customer retention is a top priority, and successfully doing so, is a top challenge. Satisfied customers stay customers. As a manager, you are responsible for customer satisfaction because your staff has direct access and contact with your customer base. And you are, by definition, responsible and accountable for your staff.
Example measures: Customer satisfaction surveys, wait time for customers calling in to customer help desks, Response times for orders.
Employee Satisfaction
Have you ever heard the following old adage? “Life would be wonderful, if we just didn’t have these employees to deal with.” We know… that was how we started the customer satisfaction description. Unfortunately, it’s the same thing. According to one Department of Labor study, customer satisfaction is directly correlated with employee satisfaction. If you have unhappy employees, you will soon enough have unhappy customers. That’s one business case for focusing on employee satisfaction. Another one is that satisfied employees are by far more productive, efficient, and effective at what they do. Another Department of Labor study showed that employee satisfaction was most impacted by an employees satisfaction with his/her direct manager. That’s you.
Example measures: Employee satisfaction surveys, employee motivation surveys, amount of time manager spends coaching
Quality
Quality means you are good at what you do. It means that there are few mistakes, if any. It means that your work is timely, and that when your customers encounter what you do, they have nothing to complain about. Think Toyota and Honda. Both car companies have reputations for high quality. Quality also means that when you do make a mistake, the mistake is controlled for and doesn’t upset the applecart too much.
Example measures: error rates, customer returns, time to market
Financial Accountability
In the end, we are in business to make a buck. If companies don’t, they are out of business. There are several ways to determine financial accountability. With sales, you can measure net revenue, margins, etc. With a cost center, you can measure the accuracy of budgetary predictions, the minimization of costs, etc. Managers must be held accountable for the dollars they control. If they aren’t, then it is difficult to align business function, direction, and purpose with the fiscal realities of being a business.
Example measures: number of sales, cogs (cost of goods sold), P&L metrics